Around 2002, I became an avid scrapbooker. In 2012 my husband passed away, and I got busy with other things. Two moves and 10 years later, I intended to get back to it and complete some unfinished albums, but it never happened. If anyone asked whether I was still scrapbooking, I would say, “No, not really.” When they asked why, my usual answer was, “For some reason, my heart just isn’t in it.” Even sheer willpower couldn’t get me back into the groove.
We all have things we want to be doing, or not doing, but it just isn’t happening. If we’re honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that our heart just isn’t in it. Most of these things are far more serious than making scrapbooks.
Changing our habits can’t be done by sheer willpower. The only solution is a change of heart. This isn’t something we can’t do ourselves. We need heavenly heart surgery.
I learned about worldly heart surgery when my husband went through it, a scary process. The doctors cut open his chest, replacing defective parts with new ones. The surgery was a success and Alan emerged with the equivalent of a new clogfree, normally functioning heart.
This is a graphic analogy of what God does in our lives, changing defective things in our hearts and making us new.
However, there are differences between God’s surgery and what the doctors do.
First, we must open our own heart. God has given us free will, so He won’t do it for us. We must willingly make our heart available to the Holy Spirit. Then, instead of a scalpel or knife, God uses a spiritual laser, shining the pure light of His love and grace into the dark places where evil lurks, burning impurities away. Whatever needs removal, once He shines His light on it, it has to leave and be replaced.
In the natural realm, heart surgery may take place once or twice in a person’s life, but God’s open-heart surgery is an ongoing process. The more often we allow Him access to our heart, the more benefits we gain. When God reveals our need for correction, and we open our heart to the Great Physician, He will fix the problem.
If you would like to learn more about how the Great Physician operates in our lives, come visit us at Charis Christian Church, 4811 E. Julep St., Suite 101, in Mesa.